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Exceptional Argentina Di Tella, Glaeser and Llach - Thomas Piketty

Exceptional Argentina Di Tella, Glaeser and Llach - Thomas Piketty

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Figure 8. Average weight of one pound sterling of exports<br />

1000<br />

Canada<br />

100<br />

Chile<br />

Colombia<br />

<strong>Argentina</strong><br />

Brazil<br />

Peru<br />

10<br />

Mexico<br />

1<br />

1860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910<br />

Source: Gerchunoff <strong>and</strong> <strong>Llach</strong> (2008).<br />

It is no wonder that cereal producing areas prospered during that period, <strong>and</strong> attracted<br />

railways <strong>and</strong> labor more than other countries (Figure 10 <strong>and</strong> Figure 11). Of course, the<br />

transport revolution was not the only technological novelty affecting primary exports. In the<br />

case of <strong>Argentina</strong> it was one of a series: advances in wool-spinning had helped breed the wool<br />

boom (1850s-1870s), <strong>and</strong> refrigeration would allow exports of meat other than the cheap,<br />

salted variety. But it was the expansion of railways that created <strong>Argentina</strong>'s agricultural<br />

revolution, itself the foundation of export-led growth.<br />

Figure 9. Average weight of exports <strong>and</strong> railway development<br />

6,0<br />

CAN<br />

Meters of railway per capita,<br />

c. 1914<br />

5,0<br />

4,0<br />

3,0<br />

2,0<br />

1,0<br />

MEX<br />

BRA<br />

PER<br />

COL<br />

ARG<br />

CHI<br />

0,0<br />

1 10 100 1000<br />

Kilos of exports per £<br />

Source: Gerchunoff <strong>and</strong> <strong>Llach</strong> (2008).

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